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Outdoor Christmas Lights for Oak Trees

Posted on 12/2/24 at 1:08 pm
Posted by Elusiveporpi
Below I-10
Member since Feb 2011
2630 posts
Posted on 12/2/24 at 1:08 pm
My wife is wanting to wrap our (2) ~40 yea old oak trees with white Christmas lights. I'm looking to cover the trunk(3ft wide, 12ft tall) and about 10ft down a few of the limbs coming off of the main trunk.

Anyone have a recommendation on a brand/type of lights needed?

If any of you have tried this, how many strands of lights were needed?
Posted by guedeaux
Member since Jan 2008
13711 posts
Posted on 12/2/24 at 4:02 pm to
quote:

If any of you have tried this, how many strands of lights were needed?


A shite ton. My trees are tiny compared to that and I have about 3000 feet of string lights per tree.

If you are going incandescent and have the money, go with a good brand like GE. You can't really tell a difference in the light among the cheap and expensive brands, but the strands and bulbs are much higher quality (and the squirrels will frick up some bulbs).

If doing LEDs, get the cheapest ones at Lowes, HD, walmart etc; however, you need to stick with the same brand. LEDs from different brands can look wildly different.

Buy lots of spare strands and a Light Keeper Pro (see above about those damn squirrels)
This post was edited on 12/2/24 at 4:03 pm
Posted by Elusiveporpi
Below I-10
Member since Feb 2011
2630 posts
Posted on 12/3/24 at 7:40 am to
3000 ft per tree! holy cow thats alot. But it does make sense. I measured the diameter of the tree last night and its 10ft around, which would suck up a strand of 100 pretty dam fast.

didnt even think about squirrels eating the bulbs either.

All good info, thanks for the help
Posted by ABucks11
Baton Rouge
Member since Jan 2012
1205 posts
Posted on 12/5/24 at 7:49 pm to
I have wrapped my (3) 25-30 year old trees for the last 5-6 years. I bought continuous led outdoor strands on rolls. Each roll was two strands of I think 150 lights per strand. Roughly 100ft per roll and I think they were Home Accent brand sold by Home Depot.

At one time I was putting 6 rolls per tree. Last couple years I’m lazy and I wrap with more space between lights and can do one tree with 3 rolls. Still looks good and saves me a ton of time.

I use an adjustable A frame ladder and start at the highest point I can reach safely from the ladder. To get close to the trunk I adjust the ladder so one leg is vertical. I start at the highest branch that forks from the trunk and I zip tie the female end. I work down the limb to the trunk and then out and back again on next limb. Continue until I’m at the ground. First year it took a while to figure out where to start and which limbs to move too. I also way under estimated the amount of lights the first year and went back to the store twice.

Caution: your neighbors will be jealous and your wife and kids will make you do it every year.
Posted by CalcuttaTigah
Member since Jul 2009
893 posts
Posted on 12/5/24 at 8:23 pm to
How long does this take you for setup and take down? My wife wants to know haha
Posted by ABucks11
Baton Rouge
Member since Jan 2012
1205 posts
Posted on 12/6/24 at 5:46 am to
When I did a tight wrap and used all 6 rolls per tree, it usually took me a good 2 hours per tree even when I knew the order of where I was going and wasn’t re doing anything. Now using 3 rolls with more space per lights and experience,I finished a tree in 1 hour.

Depends on the tree itself. My 3 trees are the same age but previous owner trimmed the outside trees differently than the middle tree. Middle tree has a bunch of smaller diameter branches that all go up instead of out. It takes a longer wrapping this tree. The outside trees have a more central trunk that branches out much higher off the ground. I can’t reach that high so I’m wrapping less branches. But the outside trees have branches that extend out more horizontally so they end up looking better wrapped.
Posted by LSUTIGERTAILG8ER
Chance of Rain....NEVER!!
Member since Nov 2007
1850 posts
Posted on 12/6/24 at 9:12 am to
you should look into buying in bulk. I like the C9 bulb type. youve already taken some measurements, so order your length, enough bulbs, etc. the first year is the worst with putting a bulb into each socket, but the next years its much easier with the bulbs and clips (for the house) are already applied.

1000Bulbs

Posted by austin2015
Member since Feb 2015
578 posts
Posted on 12/7/24 at 7:07 am to
In for later
Posted by Drop4Loss
Birds Eye Of Deaf Valley
Member since Oct 2007
3967 posts
Posted on 12/7/24 at 5:45 pm to
Its a major bitch
You will need 3 people on3 ladders on the uppers

It takes 3 to reach around the string
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